One NFL owner said the league was becoming a national laughingstock. (Getty Images)
The real officials are back. The fake officials will now return to their Facebook pages and lingerie leagues.
The deal was officially finalized around 11:30 p.m. ET with one source saying that much of the framework had been agreed upon earlier in the day.
One owner gave CBSSports.com a window into the final 24-48 hours of the negotiations. Contrary to what league officials have said publicly and privately, the owner said the debacle in Seattle figured greatly in the final hours of the negotiations.
"That game reshaped everything," said the owner, who asked not to be identified. "I can't remember the last time our league was a laughingstock nationally. It shook me. I think it shook a lot of people."
"We were prepared to go longer," the owner said. "We couldn't after that."
The owner said one of the main concerns became the replacement officials inability to control the game. There were fears that there would be an all-out brawl between teams. The owner said the NFL didn't want a fight similar to what happened between the Pacers and Pistons in Michigan in 2004. That's the example the owner gave.
The owner remarked that friends who normally aren't hardcore football fans were asking him about the replacement officials. The owner also became concerned how the NFL was becoming a national punch line. He's right. They were.
Before Seattle-Green Bay, the NFL was far more hardened. The league denies this but it's true. The NFL began to bend on the pension issue post Fail Mary. Because after that game, the real officials had all of the power, and the NFL could no longer wait out the real refs. The league denies this, but it's true.
The owner was asked who won this fight. His response: "The fan. The referees are back."
The complete answer? There is no winner. This will go down as one of the ugliest periods in recent NFL history. It damaged the NFL brand and embarrassed a highly proud league. It caused the Green Bay Packers to lose a game they should have won. Winners? No winners. Just survivors.
This was a process that didn't need to be done. NFL owners attempted to break the referee union for a few extra bucks and came close to wrecking a season.
You will hear about heroes and saviors who swooped in last minute to save the day. You will hear about caped crusaders with fountain pens. You will hear various people try to take credit, but no one deserves credit except the fans who didn't swear off football for the monstrous product that was put on the field.
Now the NFL must work to reestablish its credibility with both the general public and the dedicated footballer. As the lingerie refs depart, the real ones step in, and they will make mistakes. But there will no longer be questions about player safety or the league's integrity. Those issues are dead.
Now it's about earning that trust with the fan again -- a trust that has rarely been tested like this. Oh, there have been issues and lockouts and strikes and ugliness, but this was different. Professional football has survived the Depression, World Wars, and terrorist attacks, but fake officials who had Facebook fan pages and other questionable backgrounds were arguably one of the greater threats to the sport.
So the officials are back. They will be met with almost a hero's welcome because they are the pros. We know what they're about. We know that while mistakes will happen with these refs, the real ones are the best at what they do.
No, there were no winners. Not a single one. If someone says there were, give them a slap upside the head.
Now, back to real football.
If they get the running attack the rest of the way that they got against the Titans, they just might go 16-0. 
They started slow against Miami, but it got cranked up in the second quarter. That defense was impressive.
The new-look offense is going to be a handful for a lot of defenses. Matt Ryan looks so much more comfortable. 
Winning on the road at Green Bay is really impressive. Alex Smith shut some mouths -- including mine.
Joe Flacco and that up-tempo offense impressed against the Bengals. Can they keep it up?
One thing that stood out about the Cowboys in beating the Giants: They are faster on both sides of the ball.
If they don't tighten up the back end of their defense, even Aaron Rodgers might not be able to bail them out.
Mike Vick sure didn't look like Mike Vick against the Browns. What happened to that offense?
Peyton Manning is the same Peyton Manning. This is a good team. Now comes a tough test: at Atlanta. 
Jay Cutler looked like a new man after a slow start. You think he loves have Brandon Marshall around? 
That was a tough way to open the season in Denver, and they did some good things. They do need to get James Harrison back. 
They have major issues on defense that could put even more pressure on Drew Brees to do even more. They have pass-rush issues.
They need to tighten up the back end of that defense or even their vaunted pass rush won't save them.
They took a beating in the second half against the Ravens. But the schedule is soft for the next month.
They better do some improving this week, because they have a tough road trip to San Francisco. It wasn't pretty against the Rams.
They didn't do a lot on offense, but they have to be excited about their defensive front. There are some talented young players there.
Were they just playing coy in the preseason? They looked like a different team. It's obvious they need to unchain Mark Sanchez.
It's Kevin Kolb time with John Skelton hurt. If he plays like he did on the game-winning drive against Seattle, the Cardinals could compete in the division.
Lost in all the RG3 hype from beating the Saints is how well the defense played. That front seven is nasty. 
The defense, which was horrible last year, looked much better. They played well up front, but now face a tough test at the Giants.
So much for all that talk about how they were ready to take a big step forward. That was a disaster against the Jets.
Russell Wilson made it interesting in the end, but they have to do more on offense if they are to compete with the 49ers. Chalk it up to a first start.
Al Davis would have hated seeing his Raiders play slow, which they did against the Chargers. They might want to work on that backup long snapper. 
I know they had some key guys out on defense, but that was horrible against the Falcons. They need to tighten things up.
Opening against a team like New England is tough for a young team. Jake Locker's status with a shoulder injury has to be monitored. 
They hardly looked like the same offense against Tampa Bay. Is this a regressing team, or was that just an aberration?
Adrian Peterson has made an amazing recovery from knee surgery. But the key is how well Christian Ponder develops, and he showed well in the first game.
The best thing to come out of their loss to the Vikings was how well Blaine Gabbert played. He looked like a different guy.
That was a tough way to lose a road opener against a supposed good team. But that also shows they will compete better than many expected.
The secondary was a big problem against the Bears, which will put a lot of pressure on Andrew Luck to keep up.
Opening on the road against a good Texans team is tough to do. But I think we'll see a lot of games like that this season.
You are not going to win many games when your quarterback has a passer rating of 5.1. It's going to be a long year, Cleveland.